Sun and SeeBeyond: 5 pleas
Sun announced today that it has agreed to acquire SeeBeyond Technology Corp - one of the few remaining independent integration software specialists.
This is a highly significant move for Sun, and for the enterprise software industry. SeeBeyond’s technology is powerful and well-liked amongst its customer base, and should prove a very useful asset as Sun continues to strive to improve its enterprise software credentials, and plug the
holes in its Java Enterprise System offering.
However there are challenges here. First, all the surviving integration players, SeeBeyond included, have survived by providing customer value, and all have made much from the fact that they are “honest brokers” – contrasting themselves with suppliers like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and Sun by pointing out that they don’t sell operating systems, databases, packaged applications or any other types of technology which they integrate for customers. Second, Sun is not known for the success of its software acquisitions. Apart from Waveset, the acquisition of which provided Sun with strong identity management technology, and which shows every sign of continuing to thrive, many other key software acquisitions have fizzled out – leaving both customers and investors short on value.
So as observers of the enterprise software space for the last 15 years (pretty much as long as SeeBeyond has been serving its customers) we make the following 5 pleas to the relevant people at Sun:
1. Please learn from past acquisition successes and failures – follow the model you used for
the Waveset acquisition and ensure that key management stay in place; don’t let the organisation dissolve as you did with Forte Software, Kiva and NetDynamics. Consider keeping the core of the organisation separate from those responsible for the Java Enterprise System
2. SeeBeyond is an integration specialist, and a big part of its ability to deliver value comes from its lack of bias. Please don’t restrict the ability of SeeBeyond to deploy to platforms other than Solaris – keep all environments on a level playing field
3. SeeBeyond’s technology is market-leading and
trusted in very complex, demanding environments. Please allow the company to continue its innovation in key areas, even if they take the technology beyond current standards
4. SeeBeyond is a mature player which has been helping its customers integrate business systems for over 15 years – but it is not the only player out there, and the business integration technology market is mature in many areas. Your CEO says “together we will be able to deliver what other vendors only have in their vision papers” – but please don’t
drink too much of your own Kool-Aid5. Please don’t miss the opportunity to use SeeBeyond’s technology to improve your Microsoft interoperability story – use SeeBeyond to really push your overall message about “supporting heterogeneity”.
